


Tis' The Pumpkin Season!

by scrivesse



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Child Neglect, Dante is a good Uncle, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Nero is a smart boy but not as smart as V, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, V Is His Own Person, V is a Witch, V is a smart boy, V's familiars are like how witches have companions, V's parents are horrible to V, Vergil is a good dad, Vergil is a single dad and he is doing his best, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26766742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrivesse/pseuds/scrivesse
Summary: Halloween wasn't something that V knew much about, due to his parents never celebrating Halloween or really doing anything for said holiday. To him, Halloween was something that he didn't know much about and therefore, never had an attachment towards it. In contrast, his boyfriend Nero loves Halloween and desperately wants to share his love of the holiday with the love of his life. V isn't so sure if his opinion on Halloween will change or worsen after the month is over.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Or: A collections of stories for Hauntober 2020
Relationships: Dante & Nero (Devil May Cry), Dante & V (Devil May Cry), Dante & Vergil (Devil May Cry), Griffon & Nightmare & Shadow & V, Griffon & Shadow & V (Devil May Cry), Griffon & Shadow (Devil May Cry), Griffon & V (Devil May Cry), Nero & V's Familiars (Devil May Cry), Nero & Vergil (Devil May Cry), Nero/V (Devil May Cry), V & Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	1. Pumpkin

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! Thank you for taking the time to read this story! I put a lot of effort into this and I hope you enjoy! Kudos and comments are encouraged.
> 
> ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  
> Prompts are from: [Here!](https://fandom.tumblr.com/post/629529010167218176/its-almost-october-which-means-its-almost)

There was a chill to the air, the leaves turning brown, the sight of children and adults jumping into piles of leaves, golden brown scattering everywhere. Students took to sitting underneath trees, making themselves comfortable with the cooler air, pumpkin spiced coffees in hand. Among them walked a tired freshmen, arms full of books and eyes carrying a sense of tiredness not seen in the students around him.

It wasn’t even a few weeks into the first semester and V was already starting to feel the effects the stress university brought. If college was the introduction into what career you wanted, then university was the point in your life where you had to put in work to make your career become a reality. V loved being a novelist, but he was starting to question if his parents were right, if he should have used his smarts for something else, that he should have been doing something that would make himself known to the world.

But V didn’t dare let those thoughts take over, lest they remind him of how his parents treated him, of how they cursed him for picking a career in where he wasn’t showing off how smart he was to the world, for not picking a career that would put himself on a pedestal and the people around him below him. V didn’t want that, didn’t want to treat people like they were below him, like he was some kind of god and people had no choice but to worship him and his talents. V wanted to share his passion of books with the world, with people far and wide, to show them the joys of creating something, of getting lost inside a make-believe world that could inspire people to pick up a pen and start writing their own stories.

V wanted that, not what his parents wanted him to be. But in order to do that, he needed to pass university first. He sighed, pulling a hand away from carrying his books and digging through his pockets to find his key. Unlocking the door, he stepped inside only to be stopped by seeing Halloween everywhere.

The walls were covered with spots of paper bats and paper pumpkins, of where the window hung ghost-shaped lights. Where Nero’s desk was covered of Halloween-themed pictured frames containing pictures of his father and uncle, of an old picture of his long-dead mother. A candle that smelled faintly of pumpkin and cinnamon wafted through the air, scenting the air like the café not too far from the university.

Nero’s bed was decorated with pumpkin pillow cases and candy corn blankets. There wasn’t a space in the room that wasn’t covered with Halloween and the witch wasn’t sure if he should be disturbed or confused. Nero himself seemed to be distracted with hanging a witch’s hat on the wall to hear that V opened the door, his head turning back to look at his boyfriend’s confused face, the face that seemed to ask why their room looked like the holiday itself.

“So, what do you think, babe?”

V wasn’t sure how he should respond, if he should be honest and say that it looked tacky, or if he said that it looked nice as to avoid seeing his boyfriend’s sad face. V went with the latter and said that it looked nice, that Nero went all out for the holiday. V’s heart jumped when he saw Nero’s face light up with joy and mirth, with a childlike happiness that could only be reserved for people who loved to tap into their inner child.

If the decorations made Nero happy, then V wasn’t one to complain, though he had to ask Nero later how he managed to buy all it. V dropped his bookbag by his desk, plopping in bed and taking in the comfort of comfortable and cold bed sheets. The stresses of the day washed away and he would have fallen asleep if he didn’t feel Nero’s weight dip the bed, felt the very warm hands of his lover rub at his shoulder, erasing any tension that didn’t release when V planted himself in bed.

The room was quiet while Nero rubbed his back. That was how things functioned, how things worked in their relationship, where words didn’t need to be communicated for one to know how the other felt, it was all spelled out in how their mood was. They didn’t need to talk to each other if their eyes did the talking. When V was nearly about to fall asleep, when the world was slowly fading from V’s sight, Nero stopped massaging him, laying down next to V and allowing for the taller male to rest his head on Nero’s shoulder.

The smell of pumpkin, cinnamon, and the barest hint of apple flooded V’s senses, covering them with thoughts of pumpkin and apple pie. With the warmth of Nero’s body, the scent of the candle, and the quietness of their room, V soon fell asleep, having dreams of nights spent in front of an open fireplace.


	2. Leaves

“Hey V, have you ever played in a pile of leaves before?”

The question that came from his lover sounded in the quiet space of their room, V’s eyes tearing themselves away from his book, the world of Blake fading to the back of his mind as he regarded the love of his life, eyes catching him looking out the window to see adults and children alike playing in the leaf-covered ground. The question brought a bitter taste to his mouth, stomach churning as he thought back to childhood memories of when his father and mother forbade him from playing in the leaf-covered ground with the other children, of hearing their laughter and seeing their smile of joy teasing him to join them, to have fun with them, only to be pulled away from the window, his parents claiming that he was far too old to be playing in the leaves like a five year old.

If he looked back hard enough, V realized that he never had a normal childhood. Being a witch didn’t help, but neither was being forced to get high marks in all of his classes, of being forced to keep the family proud, to have his name put in highlights as the smartest kid in his class, as someone who could rival any other child in terms of grades. V had long since realized that his parents were only using him to give the family a name, to show off their child as a trophy, not as a child that they were proud of. They only cared about how the family looked, about how other people looked at him, about how their name would go around. “The family with the smart child” his neighbors would say with a hushed breath and an even more hushed admiration. V had concluded that the reason his parents despised him wanting to become a novelist is because they knew people would look down on them, that V wasn’t using his genius mind and talents for bigger and better things, of how they wanted V to be a doctor or a scientist, for V to have a career in where his name would be out in the world as something influential. His parents didn’t care about raising him as a child, they only cared about raising him as a trophy.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the feeling of the bed shifting, Nero’s hand landing on his own, the one that held onto his book like a lifeline, as if it would fade into nothingness if he were to let go of it. His eyes drifted to Nero’s worried gaze, feeling it dig into his soul to see what made V drift off into the land of thoughts and memories, of memories that V would be all too happy to forget.

“V, are you okay? You’ve been staring at the wall all this time.” The voice was filled with so much concern that V could almost cry. He didn’t deserve this, didn’t deserve the kindness that Nero sent his way, the anxious voice in his head calling out to him that Nero would one day use him, that Nero would be no better than his parents and that he opened his heart only for someone to crush it in their hands. But Nero always seemed to quiet that voice, the voice that V wanted to ignore but knew that it would always be there, reminding him of his existence only being used to give other people a name, to give other people praise for having someone like V in their lives. Nero proved time and time again that he was never going to use V for his own purpose, to use V to make a name for himself. Nero was already well aware that he could make a name for himself, on his own, that he didn’t need to use his boyfriend to do so, to subject his lover to the same torment that his oh so loving parents put him through.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” V shook off Nero’s concern, lest he start crying. “To answer your question, no. I’ve never had the chance to play in piles of leaves. My parents believed that it was too undignified for someone like me.” V could see the gears turn in Nero’s head, to see the cogs rotate in tandem with each other before he jumped off the bed, running over to their shared closet, putting on a jacket before tossing V his coat. “Nero, what do you think you are doing?”

Nero turned to him, smile planted firmly on his face as he struggled to get his boots on in the rush of childlike glee that ran through his veins. “We’re going to play in the leaves, of course! You’ve never experienced life properly unless you’ve jumped in a few leaves.”

V’s eyes widened, one hand letting go of his coat to wave it. “Nero, it’s fine, really. I’m perfectly fine—”

Nero didn’t let V finish his sentence as he grabbed his lover’s hand, plucking him off his bed and out the door, nearly forgetting to lock it until V reminded him to do so. They rushed down the stairs, V doing his best to keep up with Nero’s pace as they rushed down the flight of stairs, V sending apologizes when they accidently bumped into people. The doors burst open and out popped two breathless adults, Nero letting go of V’s hand to jump in a nearby pile of golden leaves. V couldn’t help but smile at his lover, allowing his eyes to look around the field around them. They were mostly empty, aside from a few families and their children playing in the leaves, parents pushing together golden mounds before witnessing their children disappear in the leaves, only to be covered in them once they reappeared.

There was something warm in the action, as he turned his head back to look at Nero make his own mountain of leaves. To see parents creating memories of joy with their children, to remind their children to be a child, to remind them that it’s okay to have fun. That school isn’t everything, that you can have time to yourself to do fun things, to enjoy yourself in doing what you want to do. V wished his parents had taught him that, that Nero shouldn’t need to be the one that taught him the joys of what being a child should have been. Nero once again broke him from his thoughts by pushing V forward, towards the mountain that he had finished building.

“Now, it’s your turn!” V stared at the mountain, looking between Nero’s ecstatic face and the pile of leaves that seemed to be calling his name.

“Nero, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t know how to do this.” Nero stared at him with a blank face, eyes slowly blinking as his eyebrow started to raise.

“V, babe, I know that.” Nero’s face quickly went back to it’s overjoyed state as his eyes shined with mirth. “You just jump into it. There’s no calculation or anything to it, you just jump into it.”

V looked back at the pile, head nodding as he took in Nero’s words. His feet took a few steps back before slowly jogging forward, knees bending as his feet left the ground, the world disappearing in a world of golds and browns, where leaves tingled his nose and stuck to his hair, of where he heard the muffled laugher of his lover as his hand appeared in front of his face, V’s hand moving through the sea of leaves to grasp onto the lifesaver, the world of golds and browns fading behind him as he reemerged from the depths to be met with Nero’s smiling face. “So, what did you think?”

V didn’t love it or hate it. It wasn’t something he planned on doing again considering that he had leaves stuck to his hair and coat. But for a fleeting moment, V knew what it felt like to be a child, to envision himself when he was younger, when his parents were more caring and less restrictive. Of when his parents would take him outside and build mounds with him, to laugh as he jumped in a sea of autumn. For a fleeting moment, V knew what it felt like to live a different life.

“I think that was fun.”


	3. Tea

If there was one thing Nero disliked more than anything, it was V’s parents. There was something stifling about rejecting your child from doing something they wanted to do, to push them to do better against their will, to disallow them from being a child and more like an adult. Nero hated that V never got to experience things that a child would. Craving pumpkins, jumping in leaves, playing videos games and reading comic books, eating ice cream and candy until you got sick. There were so many things V didn’t get to do because his parents wanted the perfect child, a child that did amazing in everything and never settled for less. So when he woke up one morning to see V looking pale as snow, sweat covering his face and hands shaking as he focused on putting on his vest, Nero already knew what the cause of this was. He nearly leapt from bed, settling on throwing off the covers and rushing over to V, putting his hands on his love’s shoulders and worriedly watched as V took a few moments to register that someone touched him, head slowing turning to look at Nero, fever-covered eyes looking into Nero’s.

“Nero, you have to let go of me. I need to get to class.” V rolled his shoulders to try and get Nero to let go, and when he wouldn’t, V let go of his vest to brush off Nero’s hands, his boyfriend’s grip tight as that didn’t work either.

“V, I’m sorry but you can’t go out like this. You look like you’re about to faint!” Nero watched as V looked down at his feet, emotions filtering through his face as he settled on a mask that didn’t fit right on his lover. V tried again to brush off Nero’s hands, coming up short when Nero once again didn’t let go. V fixed Nero with a glare, eyes focusing somewhat to allow for anger to show in his eyes. “Nero, I have to go to class. I can’t stay here and rest like you want me to.”

Nero shook his head, watching V’s glare get darker as tensions rose between the two of them. Nero felt a pain in his foot as V crushed his toes, hands temporarily letting go of him to nurse his crushed foot. V didn’t get very far when Nero picked V up and put him over his shoulder, feeling V pound his back as he tossed the lighter male on the bed. In a fury of hands and tossed clothing, Nero had gotten V back in his pajamas and under the covers, V’s glare still on his face as Nero tucked him in. “Don’t keep your face like. It might get stuck that way.” Nero let out a laugh when V’s glare faded slightly when his love blushed, pulling the covers over his head and pretending that Nero didn’t exist.

Nero went over to his desk, quietly opening his laptop and emailing V’s teachers about their absent student. It was only 2 hours into Nero finishing a paper for one of his classes when he heard V’s blankets shift and a small whine escape V’s lips. He turned in his chair, watching as V writhed in bed, body covered in sweat as he seemed, his familiars appearing from his tattoos to try and wake the writer. Nero jumped from his chair, nearly knocking it over as he rushed over to V, hands grasping onto sweaty shoulders as he shook V awake. Nero wasn’t sure how long it took before V finally opened his eyes, fear laced within them as he caught on to the fact that Nero was holding on to him. The glare went back onto his face as he smacked Nero’s hands away, holding the covers close to his chest as he looked at the wall across from him.

Nero frowned, lips pulled downwards as the writer looked even more pale than he did before. A sigh left his lips as he grabbed his keys off the desk, feeling V’s eyes watching him as he threw on his shoes and coat, locking the door behind him. And where Nero stood now, in the tea aisle of his local supermarket as he scanned the various types of tea before finding the one that he wanted, fingers plucking it off the shelf and dropping it into the basket full of medicine, soup, tissues, and a book that might be of interest to the future novelist. Once getting back to the college, he stopped in front of his dorm room, taking a deep breath in before unlocking the door and walking in, shocked to see tears silently trekking down V’s face. He dropped the bag by the door, rushing over to his crying lover as he sat next him, hand hesitant to touch V but did so anyway.

Nero saw V glance up at him, the tears becoming heavier before V threw himself unto Nero’s arms, head buried into his boyfriend’s chest as he sobbed, apologizes of how he acted, worries of how Nero had gotten sick of him and decided to leave escaping his lips with shaken sobs. Nero rubbed at V’s back, planting kisses into jet black hair. Nero wasn’t V’s parents. Nero wasn’t going to abandon V just because he placed distance between them, because he put V over V’s classes, because V was far more important to him than what V’s grades looked like. V was more important than anything in this world, and he hated how V’s parents made him think that he wasn’t.

Nero waiting until V was calm enough to grab the bag he left by the door, hand reaching into the plastic to pull out a box of peppermint tea, V’s favorite kind of tea. Nero would never forget the way V’s eyes lighted up, the way that V’s hand snatched the box from his hands and stared at it with wonder and awe, the way V begged for Nero to make him a cup but not before kissing him on the forehead, the way that V took in a deep breath when the scent of peppermint filled the air, the way V held the cup with such carefulness and delicacy that Nero was lost in V’s movements. Nero watched as his love took the first sip of his tea, filled with not too much sugar but just enough to give it a sweet aftertaste on his tongue.

Nero wouldn’t really forgive V’s parents, but he wouldn’t forget this small moment he shared with V as the other rested his head on Nero’s shoulder.


	4. Candy Apples

It was safe to say that he had no idea what he was doing. When Nero and V went back to Nero’s house for the monthly weekend visits, V didn’t really expect to be alone in a kitchen with Vergil while Nero and Dante went out for “uncle and nephew bonding time”, whatever Dante had meant by that, and V didn’t know and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know. The house was quiet between the two of them, awkwardness tingling the air as they said nothing to each other. While V had known Vergil for a few months now, it didn’t stop things from being awkward between the two of them. V always had this feeling that he wasn’t welcome in their small, tight-knit family, despite what Nero had to say about it. It was to be expected after all, V rationalized, he was an outsider to the family. Some random boy that Vergil’s son had picked up and brought in like how a child brings in a stray animal, eyes begging for their parents to agree to keep the helpless animal.

So it was a surprise when Vergil called him into the kitchen, a dark blue apron tied around his waist. All it had taken was a simple question of “Do you want to make candy apples with me?” that landed V where he was now, standing in front of a stove, watching caramel boil and change colors while Vergil was preparing apples. If V had to be honest with himself, he had never been confronted with a candy apple before, only having heard about because Nero wouldn’t stop raving about Vergil’s candied apples. He jumped when Vergil’s arm reached past him, hand turning off the stove as to not allow the caramel to be burnt before going back to the apples. V turned his attention to Vergil, feeling like he was far too unneeded in the kitchen. Vergil seemed to notice the discomfort and the staring that he turned his head, sending V a smile while beckoning him over.

“Have you tried making one of these before?” Vergil asked as he grabbed the hot pot with a glove, placing it on a metal coaster. A twisted feeling arose in V’s chest at the question, a bitter look crossing his face as he thought back to childhood parties that he was forced to go to, “great for meeting people”, his parents had told him. There was always some kind of treat or candy for the children that came but every time V would go near the table, he was yanked away by either his mother or father, their words of “you’ll make a mess of yourself” still ringing in his head. V wasn’t ever going to be sure that he wasn’t going to be angry at his parents for depraving him of a childhood, at the idea of taking away a normal life to have it be spent staring into endless amounts of math equations that could eat a man alive. Of depraving a child of basic wants and needs just to see them turn in a high grade. V wanted to be a child, his parents wanted perfection, and it was clear who won.

“No, I haven’t.” V finally gave a reply after staring at the apple in his hand, feeling Vergil’s eyes lock onto him as he dipped into the caramel. “My parents never afforded such luxuries. They said that it would ruin my teeth and that they didn’t need that happening.” He was sure that Vergil had already know about how bad his parents were, judging by the distained look the man had on his face. He wasn’t surprised by that face, he knew Nero would go to his father when he needed an ear to listen to him or needed to vent about something that pertained to V. Vergil was close with Nero and it was to be expected that since he and Nero were dating, that Nero would share things pertaining to V when he couldn’t keep it in his chest anymore. V had known all about Nero and Vergil’s late night talks, with Nero becoming emotional over V’s childhood, over the nightmares that V would have sometimes, of how V would run himself ragged if it meant that he could get high marks on all of his grades, of when the words of V’s parents became too much for him to handle and V would pull a mask on too tight for it to be far too noticeable. He would hear the soft shushes Vergil made over the phone, calming Nero and giving him advice or comforting words, which ever one worked better to calm down Nero.

It was endearing in a way, to have a father that shared a bond with you and worked hard to keep that bond intact. Both Nero and Vergil wanted that bond, the bond in where their child could tell them anything without feeling ashamed or regret, in where their parent would pull them into a hug and whisper comforts into their ear. V had wished for that more than once, had felt an empty pang more than once at seeing Nero and Vergil have a bond that V only dreams that he could have, and he can’t that in dreams either. And despite being accepted into their family, V felt it all to be fake, for the sake of keeping Nero happy so that he kept coming back home.

The world slowly came back to V as he felt an apple leaving his hand, Vergil looking down at him with concerned eyes. V shook his head, daring to get the cobwebs of memories that he didn’t want to think about out of his mind as he looked back at Vergil with a smile. “Sorry, did I zone out again?” The answer was clear on Vergil’s face, that V had zoned out into his own corner of his mind where memories of a childhood that was worthless filled his mind. Green eyes glanced at the candy apples, noticing that there were all done and coated in mixtures of caramel and chocolate. “You can take one, you know.” He heard Vergil’s voice say to him as he washed the caramel pot.

His hand reached out to grab one of the caramel apples by the stick, mouth watering as he bit it into it and then forced himself to not spit it back out. V wasn’t sure who’s idea it was to combine warm apples with even warmer caramel, but he wasn’t the biggest fan of it. There was something disgusting about apple juice mixing with caramel, and V was already sure that it would be the same with the chocolate covered ones. He put the bitten apple onto a plate and into the fridge, knowing that Nero could finish the rest of that and moved to the couch that Vergil sat on, apron missing from his form. The awkward silence rang between them, but there was something different there, a small memory sticking to them like cement to a brick of the two of them making candied apples, and for once, V sort-of knew what it felt like to bond with a parent.


	5. Moonlight

If someone had asked V why he liked the moonlight so much, he would have to point them in the direction of Nero’s sleeping form. V always liked moments like this, where he would wake up in the middle of the night, where his mind decided that he had enough sleep for the moment and allowed for him to bask in the calming rays of the moonlight. Where he could get to see the moonlight touch Nero’s sleeping form, highlighting the calm in the other’s face as he slept soundly through the night, where the moon would uncover the stubble that rested on Nero’s jaw, or when the light would show every dip and curve to Nero’s skin, where the moonlight would make V sigh and remind himself how lucky he was to have Nero in his life, that just like the moon, Nero brought his own calm to V’s hectic life. But there were more reasons that V liked the moonlight as from allowing to look at his love in another light.

The moonlight had always been there for him. When V would stay up late at night when he was a child and studied his mind away for the next test, the moon guiding him to calm when he felt nothing like it. Or when V decided to make a cup of peppermint tea and curl in his bed, his familiars resting against the warmth of his body as he read out loud to himself. Or when his mind would become too panicked, too full of thoughts that V would rather not think, the moonlight was always there to snap V back into place, to make his eyes look up at the moon and remind himself that he was okay, that the panic would pass and all will be fine. Before Nero had come into his life, it seemed like the only thing that could calm V. In a life where his parents wanted nothing but perfection, the moonlight reminded him that he didn’t need to be perfect, that he could let his guard down and be himself, the imperfect person burdened by expectations. Yes, the moonlight was always there to light the way. As if on impulse, V changed his clothes, quietly putting on his shoes as to not wake Nero, even more quietly closing and locking the door before he made his way down the flights of stairs, the moonlight looking out for him as to make sure that he didn’t hurt himself.

The cool night air touched V’s skin as he made it outside, the light glossing over the earth as the light filled the sky, outshining the stars he knew were there, supporting the moon in its light. V let his feet take him where ever they wanted to go, which wasn’t very far as he only ended up near the library, sitting on the steps and letting the light wash over him. He closed his eyes, breaths inhaling and exhaling as he allowed for the moon to take him where it wanted, where he would grab it’s hand and let it take him to places unknown. To where he could see the clouds hovering in the sky, where he could see lights of cities still living, still breathing as the world slept soundly, of where he could see the world from where he laid, where he could hear the moon whispering to him it’s joys and it’s fears, of the things it wished would happen and the things that they wished it didn’t. The moon was his guide and he was simply a passenger to the ride, the ride that V never turned down, for fear of never getting to see things like this again.

V heard footsteps in the distance and the moonlight dropped him off to where he last was, his eyes opening and head turning to see Nero walking towards him, a worried smile on his face. “There you are. I was worried when I didn’t see you there.” V smiled back at him, scooting over so that Nero could sit by him, his arm wrapping around V and holding him close. “What made you get up and leave?”

V hesitated to answer, worried that Nero would laugh at him if he knew why V came out here, why V was sitting here with his eyes closed, staying still for the moonlight when there was nothing there. He knew Nero wouldn’t judge, that he would find it cute but was too afraid to voice it out loud. He and Nero had come very far, but not far enough that V was comfortable sharing everything on his mind, the words of his parents still ringing in his mind that he couldn’t find comfort in the moon, that only children did so, that V was far too old to be doing that. So V kept that secret tightly closed, waiting for himself to be comfortable to tell Nero. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to come out here.” He heard Nero hum, his arm closing tighter around V, the stubble tickling V’s forehead.

The two of them sat there in peace, listening to the sounds of the night as the moonlight bathed them both, allowing them for a moment of quiet as they stayed in each other’s presence. Eventually, the two got up from the ground and headed back to their dorms, the sky still black as they entered their dorm. The two lovers changed back into their pajamas, both of them climbing into Nero’s bed. V rested his head on Nero’s chest as his love held him tightly, keeping him safe from the dangers of the world as Nero fell back into a peaceful sleep. V soon followed him, but not before he heard the moonlight whispers its goodnights to him, a smile reaching his lips as he fell into the darkness of sleep.

Yes, V liked the moonlight, and he wasn’t ashamed to have that love, for so the moonlight loved him back.


	6. Fog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Vomiting, panic attack.

Perfection, perfection, perfection. Everything had to be perfection, there couldn’t be anything less. Even as he stared at the stack of papers next to him that seemed to grow every time he blinked, he need to be perfect. If he wasn’t perfect, than what good was he. If he wasn’t perfect, than who was going to love him. If he wasn’t perfect, than who would praise him. Perfection pulsed in V’s blood, the driving force behind why V did what he did. His parents wanted perfection, and as long as he gave it to them, they gave him love in return. A voice in the back of his mind that oddly sounded like his mother told him that their love was conditional, that if V did this one thing for them, than he could get anything he wanted. A voice that sounded like his father mocked that the only reason they kept V was so that they could have pride to their prideless name, to make a name for themselves when they had been nothing. To show off their son as if he was an achievement to be won, to be earned, not to be loved and cared for. The stack of papers grew and grew around him, threatening to swallow him whole. He remembered the first day he brought him a bad grade. It had only a B-, but his parents had treated it as if he had gotten a D. He could remember their silent treatment, their lack of hugs and words of love, could remember how off it all felt until he brought home an A+ and everything went back to normal, the love that he had once missed suddenly back in his life as if it was always there, just silently lurking.

His breaths grew quicker as papers starting to slide off the mountain, his hands writing equations and notes as fast as they could until V was sure that he was bleeding. He remembered the nights where he would be sent to his bedroom without food if he wasn’t perfect, if he didn’t live up to his parents’ standards. Remembered the times when all he wanted was a hug from them, only to be rejected because he got in trouble at school. He could still hear their scathing words in the back of his mind as he wrote faster and faster, tossing the finished pages on to the floor in order to get to the next one, but they just kept growing and growing. When he was done with one, there seemed to be ten more waiting to be solved, to be written, to be graded. The voice of his parents became louder, more distorted, more cruel. V dropped his pen in favor of covering his ears, eyes becoming wet as he forced himself to block out their voices. But no matter how hard he tried, they were always there. Always sounding, always yelling, always restricting. The papers grew and grew, the voices became louder and louder, and the tears kept falling and his anxiety kept rising until—

V bolted up in bed, chest heaving as he gasped in breaths of air. His eyes and mind seemed foggy, as if V wasn’t truly there. And he couldn’t disagree with that, while he may have been awake, his mind felt like it was still stuck back in that nightmare. He wasn’t aware of his familiars that stared worriedly at him, or Nightmare carefully getting off the bed to cross over to Nero’s side of the room, or when Nero was awoken by a small golem tapping his nose. Nor was he aware of when Nero finally sat up, Nightmare clutched to his chest as he took in V’s shaking form, his eyes wide and staring into the wall. Nero shook his shoulders, panic rising in his chest as V looked at him, eyes dull and lightless. As if just by the sight of Nero’s concerned face, V snapped back into reality, his stomach lurching and twisting with anxiety. V couldn’t remember what really happened between his stomach lurching and feeling bile tinge the back of his throat, but he ended up with a trash can under his chin, Nero’s hand rubbing soft circles into his back as V got the half-eaten dinner out of his system.

When V had confirmed that nothing else was going to come up, he leaned against Nero, head resting on his lover’s shoulder as breaths hurriedly came in and out of his lungs, as if the air around him was thick and V was losing air. The dream still flashed behind his eyelids whenever he gave himself the chance to close his eyes, all he could see was the growing stack of papers and his handwriting become messier and messier as he rushed to get through the papers, the voices of his parents still in his mind, still resting where he could hear them along with the sound of his breathing. “Babe, V, are you okay?” The sound of Nero’s voice brought him away from his thoughts, from the voices that plagued his mind. The amount of concern and worry that Nero held in his expression nearly made V sob. The voices came back stronger, words read aloud that Nero was only with him because he was Nero’s perfect idea of a man, that V was perfect in every way and that’s why Nero was dating him, that Nero didn’t love him for him, that Nero loved him because he was perfect.

V shook his head, both in response to the question and to the voices inside his head, eating away at his deepest fears and spitting them back in his face, to remind him of the things that he was afraid of, of the unconditional love that would one day turn into conditional love, of the one day that Nero would decide that he could do better and leave V high and dry. V knew that Nero would never do that, but the voices made it seem so convincing. V didn’t want to know what Nero thought, but something told him that he should. “N-Nero, why are you with me?”

He watched as Nero’s eyebrow raised, the look of concern running deeper as he pondered what V meant by that question. “What do you mean? Like why I’m your roommate or—?” V shook his head again, a sob once again escaping cracked lips as he composed himself. “Why are you dating me? Why are you loving me like there isn’t anything you want out of me? Why are you staying with me when you could find someone better than me?” His voice cracked, feeling hands cup his cheeks as more tears rolled down his face.

“Because I love you, V. I’m dating you because I love you. Yeah, it’s true that I could be with someone better, but why would I do that when I have you?” He kissed V’s forehead when he let out a whimper, the grasp Nero had on V's shoulders getting tighter. “I didn’t date you because you were perfect, or that you had good grades, or that you were smart. I’m dating you because I love your smiles. I love the way you speak about things you care about, about your familiars and how much you love them, of how you munch on candy canes so much to where you smell like peppermint, of how you worry about me, of your laughs and your soft touches, of how the moonlight hits you just right to make you look like you’re glowing. There’s so much I love about you that I don’t think words can really put it into perspective. I didn’t love you because of perfection, I love you because you are V.”

V's bottom lip trembled as he gazed into Nero’s eyes, finding nothing but honesty within calm blue eyes. A cry broke from V’s throat as he leapt into Nero’s arms, burying his head in the neck of his love as he let out all of the emotions that he had been holding on to. Nero held him tight, kissing into V’s hair and whispering sweet, sweet comforts to relax him. It took an hour before V stopped crying, before V could stop heaving breaths like he was dying, before the voices could finally stop, and another hour before V felt comfortable enough to go back to sleep, scooching over in order to make room for Nero, the other pulling him close to his body. V’s head once again rested on Nero’s chest, taking his time to listen to the beats of Nero’s heart and the sounds of Nero's breathing, the two combining into a song that lulled V to sleep.

While V always wanted perfection, desired perfection, craved perfection to a point where it would destroy him, V was lucky that he had reminders that being perfect wasn't everything, that he shouldn't listen to the voice of his insecurities and be himself. To be V. 


	7. Haunted

Of all the things V expected to do today, going to a haunted house was not one of them. Honestly, he expected something different when Nero barged into their room, begging V to get dressed, that he had something special to show him. V thought that it might have been a play, or a concert, or a romantic dinner that his lover decided to plan for him. But nope, this was Nero’s idea and V had a sudden urge to back out and go back to their dorm, to curl up in bed with a good book and a few lit candles and forget that Nero ever dragged him here in the first place. But fate had other ideas as Nero grabbed his wrist, pulling V along as the line moved. Green eyes drifted to the excited face of his boyfriend, watching that childlike wonder that he loved speak volumes on his face. His eyes left the excited expression of his lover and locked onto the haunted house, the screams of the patrons reaching his ears from where they were standing. V hated this, he concluded without having even stepped a foot inside a haunted house before.

It wasn’t that V was afraid of being scared, he had already been subjected to enough horror movies thanks to Nero that he knew wasn’t the case. What V didn’t like was being scared. The creeping feeling that something is going to jump at you, but never knowing when it would come. The feeling that if you looked deep enough into something, that it would stare back at you. This was not a fictional horror movie, this was reality and V wasn’t ready to confront that reality. But one look into Nero’s face told him that he should at least stick around, just for the fact that Nero was next to him and could bury his face into the other’s shoulder when things got too much. As the line got shorter and shorter, V’s heart started to pound more and more, sweat covered his palms as he got Nero to let go of him for a brief moment to wipe them on his pants. The closer they got, the worse the feeling became, the more his heart pounded, the more his palms started to sweat. Before V could make an attempt to convince Nero that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, they were already inside the haunted house, V paling as he took in his surroundings. The lights of the house were red and ominous, blood spattered the curtains that covered the shattered windows. Broken mirrors were placed in certain sections, distorting the image of whoever dared to look into them. The walls were decaying and old, full of holes that V was sure that they would collapse on top of them. The floor was covered with pieces of paper stuck to the floor, blood red lettering telling V to get out. Everything around him screamed horror and V would have been ready to bolt if Nero wasn’t next to him, if his hands weren’t clinging to Nero like a lifeline.

His grip tightened around his love’s arm, pressing his body more and more against Nero’s arm as his eyes darted around for the scare that was waiting around the corner. As if the gods above were listening to V, a person dressed as a clown, a gash running across his face, reaching from the tip of his right eyebrow to the bottom left of his chin, popped out of a hole in the wall. Two very different sounds were heard: The sound of Nero’s laughter and the sound of V’s yelp. V felt his heart drop into his stomach and he faintly thought to himself of when it was going to end. As V soon found out, it went on for longer than it needed to. V couldn’t really remember what happened in the haunted house aside from people jumping out of every corner, arms sticking through the gaps in the walls, or the heads that would pop out of nowhere; nor could he remember what anything sounded like apart from him screaming and Nero laughing. By the time the two existed the haunted house five minutes later, Nero looked content, a joyful look on his face as he felt the adrenaline rush through his veins as he knew that he wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. V, however, wouldn’t be sleeping for an entirely different reason. His face looked pale in the dark moonlight, a subtle shaking to his limbs as he looked down at the ground, mind lost to the anxiety rushing through his veins.

V could hear Nero call his name and he ripped his eyes from the ground to look into the worried face of his boyfriend, his brows furrowed as he held V’s arm tighter. “Are you okay? I tried calling your name a few times but you didn’t answer.” V cursed his anxiety and planted a smile that he hoped didn’t look fake. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” He watched Nero’s eyebrow raise, having noticed the stutter in V’s voice. Nero pulled V away from the haunted house and back towards the college, stopping in front of the library and sitting down on the steps. V sighed, thankful for the chance to rest his shaking legs as he felt Nero stare at him. He turned his head and stared back at the other, the two locked in a staring contest, never breaking even as Nero asked a question. “So what’s really going on? You look paler than you do after you have nightmares.”

V loved and hated how Nero could read him. He loved it as it allowed for him to be open to Nero without having to say anything, the other understanding him with just a look into V’s eyes. But he also hated it as Nero could read him too well, to where it felt like V was glass and Nero could see what his mind and soul were saying. He let out a sigh, breaking the staring contest to look down at his lap, finding that Nightmare had emerged from his tattoos when he wasn’t paying attention and hugged V’s stomach, the familiar knowing the thoughts that ran through his master’s mind. “I… don’t do well with haunted houses.” Nero stayed quiet, allowing for V to take a few deep breaths and to gather his thoughts before continuing. “Watching a horror movie is one thing. Those I can handle as the scares aren’t real. Haunted houses on the other hand…” V trailed off, Nero having gotten the idea of what V was trying to say.

“So haunted houses scare you because the scares are real?” When Nero had put it like that, it sounded stupider in V’s head. But he nodded anyway, feeling embarrassment creep up his body as he wished for the earth to bury him where he sat. “Then if that was the case, then why didn’t you say anything when we were waiting in line?” Nero’s tone didn’t sound angry, more concerned than anything, but V’s anxiety told him otherwise. “Because you looked so excited to go that I didn’t have the heart to say no. I didn’t want to crush your hopes of going into a haunted house with me, so I kept my mouth shut so that you could have fun.” He heard Nero sigh before he pulled V closer to him, hand grasping onto V’s forearm as he rubbed small circles into the pale skin as V rested his head on Nero’s shoulder.

“V, I would rather you be comfortable and having fun, than to be uncomfortable and miserable. I brought you here to have fun with me, and you should have told me that haunted houses scared you. We could have left and done something else, something that you were comfortable with. I’d rather you be having fun with me than for me to be the only one having fun. Your feelings are important too, V. You shouldn’t have kept them to yourself because you wanted to make me happy.”

V could feel his heart be warmed by Nero’s statement, a smile crossing his face as he took his head off Nero’s chest to look into his lover’s eyes. They stayed that way for a while, the two watching the shine of the stars and the moon, Nero allowing for V’s anxiety to calm down and for his skin to go back to a healthy color before they got up and walked back to the dorm. The door was locked as V changed into his pajamas, Nero looking at the curves of V’s body with interest as he unlaced his boots. A cup of peppermint tea rested in V’s hands, a cup of hot chocolate resting in Nero’s as he turned on V’s favorite movie, his free arm wrapping around V, pulling him close as the writer slid down to rest his head on Nero’s chest, ear pressed to hear the beat of Nero’s heart.

This was certainly better than a haunted house, V concluded to himself as he sipped his tea, eyes locked to the movie in front of him. Anything was better than a haunted house.


	8. Lantern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Homophobia, mental breakdowns, guilt-tripping.

What should have been a relaxing evening turned out to be anything but as V felt his phone vibrate for umpteenth time, electing a sigh from the writer as he dug his fingers into his pocket, tapping the screen to see that his mother had called him yet again, leaving yet another voicemail that V didn’t have the mental strength to listen to. His eyes gazed over the number of missed calls, voicemails, and text messages that were left by his parents. It had started out so simple: Go to Nero’s house and spend time with his family. That had been the plan and V was reluctant to give that up. So when his phone had rung, his mother’s number flashing across the screen again as he unpacked his clothes, he already knew what she wanted. His hand drifted to the phone, finger swiping across the screen as he brought it to his ear, stomach dropping as something told him that this wasn’t going to go well.

“Hello, V. I’ve been trying to get in contact with you. How are you?” He knew this song and dance far too much for him not to be caught off guard, and yet, he always was. “I’m fine, mother, just busy. What do you need?” He wanted to get this over with, wanted to go back to unpacking the rest of his clothes and taking a hot shower, to spend time with Dante and Vergil, to cuddle in Nero’s arms as they always did. His mother stayed silent for a few moments, to a point where he wondered if she hung up on him before he heard her take a breath. “I want you to come home.” There it was. There was the question that V always dreaded to hear every time. He wasn’t surprised anymore, this was a routine. His mother would call for him to come home, his father would call him to make sure V wasn’t slacking off in school. This was the routine and V knew it by heart. “I can’t mother. I already have plans.”

Her tone switched, questioning clear in her voice. “What plans are so important that you can’t make time for your parents?” A feeling of produced guilt settled into his stomach. Another routine that happened. “I have plans with a friend of mine, mother. I can’t drop them out of nowhere.” He tried to reason with her. It wouldn’t be fair to himself or Nero if he just dropped everything at the last second without much of an explanation. But it was only natural that his mother wouldn’t understand. “And we’re your parents. You can make plans with your little friend later. We haven’t seen you in ages and we need to talk about your education. Are you still pursing that worthless career path?” Her tone was condescending and something inside of V snapped. He clenched his free hand into a fist, using all of his willpower to not break his phone.

“Listen, mother. I will not come home. You call me almost every other day to ask how I’m doing and ask for me to come home. You never make any attempt to talk to me about anything other than my choice to become a writer, which if I remember, you seem to find unworthy of my effort. You never cared about my happiness, or what I wanted. It was always what you guys wanted and your happiness. You wanted me to get perfect grades, to be the perfect child, just so that you and father can flaunt me around like I’m some kind of trophy that you won in a best parent competition. You never cared about me or loved me. You just did so because it would make it easier to get me to do what you wanted. That isn’t going to happen anymore, mother. I’m an adult now and I can decide what makes me happy or not. And my boyfriend and my career make me happy, and I would never give them up just so that you can control me further.”

The line was silent, the only thing being heard was V’s heavy breaths as he forced himself to calm down and focus on the topic at hand. “Vitale.” His mother started, her tone empty. “You do not talk to me like that. I am your mother and you will treat me as such. Me and your father did everything we could for you. We wanted you to make us proud, for you to use your skills on things that would better yourself and the world. We wanted you to have your name out there, for you to be known. We wanted you to have money in your pockets, for you to be stable and not to live on the streets. We did not raise you so that you could be a writer. We did not send you to college so that you could be a writer. We hoped that by sending you to college, you would wake up and realize that you are too privileged to be a writer. Too smart to use your skill writing books for masses that will not even read them. We did not send you to college so that you could go around and fuck with boys. We did not send you to college so that you could tell us you were gay. But if you insist on being this way, then I only see two choices: Either you break up with this boy and come home, or you keep the life you have now and we disown you.”

The grip on his phone became tighter and his breathing became more erratic. He imagined his life without Nero, without the warmth of him and his family. A life without Nero. A life without the man who brought him joy. A life without the man who calmed him, made him feel safe and protected, who valued V’s happiness and listened to whatever V had to say. V imagined a life without him, and it was dull and cold. Joyless and empty. He silently wondered how he would have kept going if Nero wasn’t around, if he would have had the strength to stand up to his mother if Nero wasn’t in his life. V imagined that reality and his stomach dropped, hand nearly going to his mouth to stop himself from being sick. He knew what he wanted.

“I’m sorry, mother. But I’m not coming home.” The phone clicked and V was left on the dial tone. Teeth dug into his bottom lip, phone held in a death grip as he walked out of Nero’s bedroom. He ignored the fact that it was nearly dark outside, ignored the concerned faces staring at him as he ran outside of the house, making it halfway across the lawn before he tripped over a rock, knees hitting the ground as the shock ran through his bones. V took deep breaths, trying to push back the tears that wanted to fall. It was to no avail as they just fell anyway, vision blurring as he threw his head back, scream ripping from his chest as the tears ran faster down his face. He wasn’t sure who ran up to him or who was trying to calm him amongst all the screaming, but he was lifted from the ground and placed on the porch swing, lanterns glowing on V’s teary face as he sobbed into his hands, fingers digging into his scalp as he let out everything that he had been holding in. V wasn’t sure how long it was before he stopped screaming, before he finally calmed down enough to gather himself, before reality slowly came back to him enough to notice that someone was sitting next to him.

He turned his head, noting that Dante was sitting beside him, a cup of tea in his hands and a magazine over his face. Dante seemed to notice that V was staring at him as he watched Dante lift up one corner of the magazine and gave a crocked smile, hand raising to offer the teacup to V. “Nero made it, said you liked peppermint.” Love for Nero flooded his chest as he took the cup, nodding his thanks at Dante as he took a sip. The tea was cold and the sugar was a little less sweet, but the taste of peppermint invaded his senses and he couldn’t help but sigh. He drank the rest of it in small sips as to not agitate his sore throat. The two of them sat there in silence, Dante glancing back at V from under his magazine every now and again to make sure that he was okay. He wasn’t going to lie and say that V didn’t give them a scare. They were all worried when V rushed out of the house like something was chasing him, Nero called out V’s name in barely covered concern. They watched V make it half way down the lawn before he fell to his knees, waiting with baited breaths to see what V would do next. Their hearts sunk when V tiled his head back and started screaming, Nero pushing past him and Vergil as he made his way to V. He had never seen so much panic on the kid’s face as he tried to bring V back to the cusp of reality, rubbing at V’s arms to get him to do anything but scream. Dante never wanted to see that look of panic again, and he was sure that Vergil felt the same

When it was clear that Nero’s attempts were failing, he lifted the still screaming V into his arms and carried him to the porch swing, sitting him down next to him. They all tried to get V to respond but nothing worked. They all settled on taking turns sitting next to V, giving him their silent comfort as they waited for him to calm down. If Dante had been honest with himself, it was disturbing to see V switch from sobbing one minute, to screaming the next. To distract himself, he took a magazine with him and put it over his face, something to look at so that he didn’t have to see the distressed child next to him.

V finished the tea, allowing for the silence to continue before he turned his head to look at Dante’s magazine covered face. V could only imagine what he looked like. “I’m sorry.” His voice was raspy, but he tried to make it sound as clear as he could. He watched Dante removing the magazine from his face, eyebrow raised as he gave V a once over. “What you have to apologize for, kid? You’re lucky that we live so far away from the street or otherwise the neighbors would have heard you.” That had only made the guilt in V’s chest blossom more and he nearly looked away, eyes quickly snapping back to Dante’s face as the older male laid a hand on V’s shoulder. “But seriously, what do you need to apologize for?”

A question that was so simple, yet still made V’s stomach turn. “For breaking like that.” He saw Dante raise his other eyebrow and he raised a hand to stop Dante from talking. “I know that this was supposed to be a fun weekend. A weekend in where you and Vergil would get to spend time with Nero. But then my mother called. She asked me to come home. And I didn’t want to. I knew what she was going to say. That I needed to change my career because I’m too smart to be a writer and that I’m wasting my skills. I told her I had plans and she wanted to know what they are. I told her that I was spending time with a friend and she rebutted that I could reschedule my time with them. That they hadn’t seen me in so long, that they were more important than Nero was. And… I didn’t like that. I couldn’t find it in me to leave Nero here while I went off to my parents. So I snapped. I told her the truth. That her and father never loved me, that they never cared about me. That I was nothing but a trophy for them to wave around.” V gulped around the lump in his throat. “I let it slip that I was dating Nero and she… lost it. She told me that her and father did everything they could for me, that they wanted what was best for me, that they wanted me to use my skills for something better, that they didn’t want me to end up homeless because people wouldn’t read my books… They sent me to college in the hopes that I would listen to them, that I would stop doing the thing I loved and move on to something else, something that could put my smarts to use.”

He felt Dante’s hand pat his back, a silent form of comfort. “S-She told me that I wasn’t going to college to be with boys. That I had to make a choice. To break up with Nero and come home, or to be disowned… And when I thought about leaving Nero… Everything felt bleak, lifeless. Like there was no happiness anywhere and I was going to be in the same place I was before I met Nero. It was because of Nero that I’m here. Because of Nero that I stood up for myself. Because of Nero that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I-I love Nero, with all of my heart and I can’t think about leaving him, Dante.”

There was a sense of warmth in V’s chest after he finished, like his heart was a fireplace and Nero was the wood. He hated that Nero made him feel this way, made him feel like his heart was going to burst, like his knees were going to give, like his cheeks were flushed with fever. But at the same time, he couldn’t find it in himself to hate these feelings. A hard pat smacked against his back and he let out a breath, green eyes hesitantly looking up at Dante. “I’ve got a question for you. Do you feel like you don’t belong in this family?” His heart dropped and V looked away from him. Was it that obvious? Was that clear to everyone? V wondered if Nero has noticed. He wondered if that’s why Nero brought V over so much, to get V to feel like he was family. “Do you see those lanterns up there?” V was pulled from his thoughts by Dante’s voice, head moving to look at the lanterns that Dante gestured to.

“Vergil brought them a couple of weeks ago, said that he liked to read outside and got tired of how dark the front of the house looked. I thought they looked tacky, I wondered who puts lanterns on their porch. But the longer they were they, I started to get used to them. The more I started to get used to them, the more I liked them. The more I liked them, the more I couldn’t imagine how dark the front of our house would be.” Dante looked down at him, a warming smile on his face. “I feel the same way about you. We all do. At first, I thought you were weird with all of your tattoos. But then the more you came over, the more I got used to you. The more I got used to you, the more I started to like you. The more I started to like you, the more I couldn’t imagine how our lives would be without you there. Of course life would still be the same, but there will always be a little V-sized hole there. Vergil thinks so too, despite not vocalizing it much. You’re a part of this family, V. Always have been and always will be. So don’t feel like you don’t belong because you do. You belong here just as much as Vergil and Nero do.”

A family. The word would usually bring an uncomfortable feeling to his chest, like someone took his heart and was slightly squeezing it. Whenever V heard the word family, he thought of his own. His own family, the ones who wanted to control everything he did. But now… Now the word felt different. He had a new family. Nero’s family. Dante and Vergil, two people who he never would have expected to become his new family, suddenly were. They gave him a place in the family and V never realized it, not until now, not until Dante had brought it up. He… had an actual family now. His heart clenched and tears flooded his eyes as the world around him became blurrier. A loud sob escaped from his lips and he felt Dante pull him into his chest, arm wrapped around him. “Don’t start crying now. Nero might think I hurt you.”

V chuckled, trying to gather himself once again. He heard footsteps come to the front door and he watched as Nero opened it just enough to pop his head around the corner, concern lighting his face at the sight of V’s wet face. “Hey, what did you do to him?” He watched Nero glare at Dante before walking over to where V sat, kneeling down in front of him. His hands reached up to V’s cheeks, feeling cold and soothing at the same time. He closed his eyes, leaned into the touch of his love’s cold hand, listening to Nero give a soft chuckle. “V, you okay?” V opened his eyes once again, seeing the worried look on his lover’s face. He noticed Vergil standing in the doorway from the corner of his eye, looking at him with reserved concern. Dante went back to placing the magazine on his face, leaving just enough of it uncovered to look at V.

This was home. This was V’s home now. This was V’s new family now. A family that loved him, a family that supported him. A family that didn’t want to use him for their own gain, to better their name, to use him as a trophy, to prove that they were the better parents. They just wanted V for V. They wanted nothing more than that. There was a lot that he and their family needed to talk about. A lot that he and Nero needed to talk about. A lot that V himself had to deal with. But for now, they could wait. He wanted to savor this just a little longer. V turned his head to look at Nero’s worried face, tears brimming in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine now.”

V was a lantern and he had found his home.


	9. Stars

It was early into the night when V’s shoulder was shaken, the soft call of his name falling from Nero’s lips pulling him from a dreamless sleep. V held back a sigh, cracking open an eye to regard Nero with a tired glare, watching as his lover shrunk back. He looked over Nero, worry starting to blossom in his chest as he noticed that his lover was fully dressed for the cold air outside, a bag slung over his shoulder and boots still untied. Mind raced around a million thoughts, all of them unkind as he stared into Nero’s face. “Why are you dressed?” Nero seemed to noticed the worried tone in his voice as he raised his hands, waving them around. “No, no, it’s not what you think it is. I’m not leaving you, V. I told you, I’m here for you until the end, remember?” V nodded, the worry drifting off into to a dull concern that held no candle to the soul-crushing worry that he felt only moments ago.

“Actually, I woke you up because I wanted to take you somewhere.” V tiled his head, confusion once again written on his face as Nero let out a chuckle. What ideas did Nero have that involved being awake at 3:30 in the morning? But despite the question lingering in his head and the obvious fact that he had classes in the morning, V threw on a pair of clothes and pulled on his boots, reminding himself and Nero to tie their shoes. V let out a yawn as Nero locked the door to their room, his eyes drooping as he looked back at Nero. His lover seemed to take pity on him as he turned his back to him, getting down on one knee and holding his arms behind him. “Hop on, I’ll carry you there.” V didn’t feel like protesting and he wasn’t sure if he had the energy to do so as he laid against Nero’s back, the world spinning slightly as Nero lifted him from the ground, his arms tightly wrapped around V’s legs as he walked down the stars in silence, V being all too surprised that Nero could carry him and a bag down four flights of stairs. They soon made it outside, the dull glow of the moon comforting V as he closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of nature.

It seemed like a picture perfect moment. The couple that loved each other, supported each other, adored each other, were walking across the campus lawn with calm strides. V held against Nero’s back, his arms wrapped around Nero’s neck as he slept the way to where ever they were going, his face calm and expressionless. Nero, his face peaceful as his grip on V’s legs remained as tight, bending forward slightly as to make sure that V didn’t fall off, his steps careful and calculated as to not wake the sleeping male. If one were to look from afar, they seemed like an imperfect match, but to those that knew them, they were anything but. V felt Nero stop suddenly, eyes opening to look where they ended up. It was a small hill, with a lake in the far center of the field. Trees surrounded the area, leaving a large gap for the stars and the moon to be seen. V’s eyes widened as he took in everything. The sky was filled with stars and planets that he had never seen before. There wasn’t a place in the sky that wasn’t covered by the vast array of stars and planets. The moon gave a dull glow, as if not to overshadow the stars in their glory.

V didn’t notice that Nero had put him down until he heard his boyfriend rummaging through his bag. His eyebrow raised as he watching Nero pull out a blanket, shaking it out to lay it flat on the ground in front of them. Nero reached back into the bag and pulled out a telescope, along with a thermos of some hot drink that V knew little about. Nero looked back to him with a smile, and V couldn’t help but smile back, sitting down when Nero patted to the spot next to him on the blanket. “My dad and uncle used to take me stargazing. He would always bring a telescope and a thermos of something warm to drink during the autumn nights. And after what happened with your parents, I felt like you needed a little relaxation.”

V was unable to tell if the ache in his chest was because of how much Nero seemed to care about him or the fact that he now had no family. V could still remember that fateful weekend in where he broke in Vergil’s front lawn, embarrassment still warming his cheeks even now, despite the fact that Vergil and Dante had already accepted his apologies for it, even if they knew that he had no reason to apologize. V pushed the memory into the far back of his mind, focusing on the here and now with Nero. He nodded his thanks, untrusting his voice to not break. His eyes followed Nero as he leaned back on the blanket, V soon following as he rested his head on his lover’s chest, listening to the rhythming heartbeat that soothed V more than he would allow himself to admit.

They laid there in peace, the two looking up at the stars, the warmth of their bodies protecting them from the chill air. V knew little about stars, so he relied on Nero to guide him through the different constellations and the meanings behind them, V listening with wonder and love in his eyes, ears open to every word that slipped from Nero’s mouth as if he were to miss something if he didn’t pay attention. V didn’t pay much attention to the time, surprise coloring his face when he noticed that the sky was slowly turning blue. With a heavy sigh, the two called it a night, packing up their things and walking back to their room hand in hand. And if anyone noticed that they looked a bit more tired than usual, their minds would flash back to their night under the stars, and slip from the memories with sweet smiles.


End file.
